Learning to Write Again
by PrettyLittleMonster
Summary: "She suddenly yearned to know how to do that, to write in the language of the Timelords, that magnificent race that she would never come into contact with." In which River Song wants to learn Gallifreyan, and who better to teach her than her Timelord husband?


**(Author's Note: So, I've been teaching a few of my friends to write in Gallifreyan, and this is what came out of the experience.**

**Standard disclaimers apply. I own nothing but my own imagination.)**

River perched on one of the straight backed chairs in the TARDIS library, slowly edging herself closer to her distraught husband. He was writing furiously in Gallifreyan.

_Damn,_ she thought, _the TARDIS won't translate it._ She pondered this as she watched him swiping his pen across the page in intricate little circles, forming the most beautiful patterns and symbols. She suddenly yearned to know how to do that, to write in the language of the Timelords, that magnificent race that she would never come into contact with-besides the Doctor, that is. No matter how much she felt connected to the ancient people, she would never know them, so this was something that maybe, just maybe, she could know a small part of them.

That only left the problem of how to approach the Doctor.

He was acting moody and isolated and he had this faint look on his face like he resented her for some reason. She didn't know why. She hadn't done anything to garner such treatment, but nevertheless, he seemed bent on doing everything he could to not be around her. River stuck close by him anyway, which annoyed him slightly. Lucky for her, the Doctor knew his wife well enough to allow her just to sit with him while he moped, which she did gladly. If he wanted her gone badly enough, he could drop her off at Stormcage. Besides, she needed to be around him right now, no matter how impertinent he was being.

"Teach me," she demanded, invading his space, and grasping for his attention.

"Teach you what?" He didn't look up from the interconnected circles and lines. He was getting all nostalgic and sad and she was having none of it. River turned his face towards her.

"Gallifreyan." His eyes darkened at the word, shrugging her off and going back to his paper.

"Why should I?" She didn't know how to answer that question. She really didn't. She also didn't think she should _have_ to answer that question, but he asked, so River ran her hand through the mad pile of curls she called hair and set about constructing an answer.

"Doctor, I know I'm not a Timelord, and I'm not trying to be, but I... I can't help but think that if I am... _whatever_ I am because of the TARDIS, then I must have some link to Gallifrey." She paused, hoping he would say something. He didn't; he just kept writing. It killed her to not know what he was thinking. "Look, I'll never see it. I'll never see Gallifrey. All I'm asking for is a piece of it, a tiny piece. Teach me to read and write in Gallifreyan." He let out a long breath, finally looking at her again.

"Okay," relented the Doctor, and he kissed her forehead and retrieved another few sheets of paper. She'd won. She always won.

He scrawled 29 circular symbols on the page. They were absolutely beautiful.

"We'll start with your alphabet. Can't learn words until you know the letters," he started. River beamed. He sounded less mournful than he had before; that was progress.

The Doctor showed her the sounds each character made, and the way they could be used to write words in every language, starting at the bottom of the circle, and going around counter-clockwise. It was like she was in school again, (but this time she wasn't getting in trouble every time she turned around).

Soon, she'd filled several pages with the circular symbols, and-painstakingly-scribed her name. It had taken the good part of an hour, and there were crumpled up papers scattered haphazardly around the couple from the moments when she'd gotten so frustrated with the unfamiliar letters that she'd nearly given up altogether, but she finally did it. She held the paper aloft and stared at it in awe.

"Doctor, look!" She laughed, "Look what that says. River Song." The pride on her husband's face was priceless, but it soon gave way to guilt and remorse. "What's wrong?" She ventured cautiously. Her husband took a long pause before answering her.

"I didn't want you to learn."

"What?"

"I..." He took a deep breath. "I wanted to keep you away from Gallifrey. I was selfish and I didn't think you belonged to Gallifrey like I do. I was angry, River. Angry that someone like you could even exist after what I did to my people. But I was wrong. You deserve to know where you come from, and believe me, as a child of the TARDIS," he laughed, "you most definitely come from Gallifrey." He bopped her on the nose, grinning like the madman he was. River opened her mouth to tell him what an adorable, sentimental fool he was, but he spoke first.

"I see it in you, you know," he admitted sheepishly. River looked at him sidelong.

"Hmm?"

"Gallifrey, River. I see all of Gallifrey in you." He brought her face close to his as he spoke in a sort of hushed whisper. "I see every Timelord that ever lived in you. I see every sun and every moon and every star in you. River, I was alone. I… I killed all my people and I was alone, until suddenly, there was you. You who embodied everything I'd ever known; who was like a little piece of my home planet; who was an enigma even I couldn't figure out. I see everything I have ever loved in all of time and space in you. And in case you ever wondered, or you ever do wonder, that, River Song, is the reason that I am so hopelessly in love with you. Don't ever forg-"

River's pen clattered to the floor and the Doctor didn't get to finish his sentence. She only pulled away from him when she was so out of breath the she was getting lightheaded. _He_ might have a respiratory bypass, but _she_ definitely didn't.

"So, uh, am I forgive and everything?" The Doctor sputtered. Silly Doctor.

"Yes dear, always and completely." Her husband smiled like an idiot, and River couldn't help but notice how much happier he looked than when she'd first came into the library.

"Just promise me one thing," he requested, interlocking his fingers with hers. "Don't ever let me shut you out again, River, even for a minute. I need you."

"I don't think that will be a problem," she purred, leaning in for another kiss.

**(Reviews are love. They make all the hard work I put into writing these worth it. Also, feel free to check out some of my other stories! Thanks for reading!**

**Much love,  
PrettyLittleMonster Xxx)**


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